


she's a survivor

by Sumi



Series: Rin Shepard [3]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-01 05:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18329723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/pseuds/Sumi
Summary: Rin was in the middle of the most decent sleep she’d had in months when a loud, blaring alarm echoed throughout the entire apartment. Her eyes opened instantly and held an indeterminable amount of annoyance. It eventually shifted to rage as the noise became louder with every passing second.“I heart Garrus,” Rin shouted into the empty apartment.





	she's a survivor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



Rin was in the middle of the most decent sleep she’d had in months when a loud, blaring alarm echoed throughout the entire apartment. Her eyes instantly opened and held an indeterminable amount of annoyance. It eventually shifted to rage as the noise became louder with every passing second.

“I heart Garrus,” Rin shouted into the empty apartment.

The sound instantly ceased, drawing a groan of relief from Rin. She couldn’t hold onto her anger given the motivation behind the ridiculous and inconvenient security system. Garrus only wanted to make sure she was safe.

Dealing with her clone had shaken them all up. Rin took Miranda at her word that they made just one. Fucking Cerberus treated Rin like she was their own personal science project. She be happy to never hear or see anything from Cerberus again.

Eventually Rin forced herself out of bed to find the source of the alarm going off. She headed downstairs and found her space hamster Cornelius the 2nd scampering around the floor.

“You're lucky I shut it off in time. Otherwise you would've been one dead little space hamster,” Rin muttered. She easily plucked him off the floor and put him back in his cage. “Do me a favour and stay in here.”

After Cornelius the second was taken care of, Rin scanned the downstairs until she saw a blinking datapad in the kitchen. She hit play while simultaneously making a cup of coffee.

‘Hey Shepard, I might be gone when you wake up. Don't worry your boyfriend won't get into to much trouble. The apartment isn't stocked with dextro food so I have to do some impromptu shopping.

I'm starting to think Anderson didn't entertain many Turians. Or Quarians for that matter.

She chuckled to herself as the coffee continued to percolate. Anderson was about as far as you could get from being a xenophobe. He also wasn’t the type of person who hosted guests. The man preferred to be out in the field. Rin once thought that way, but since she touched that Prothean beacon, it was one thing after another. Even the great Commander Shepard, butcher of Torfan, and savior of the Citadel needed a break once in awhile.

By the time Garrus arrived back at the apartment, Rin was well into her second cup of coffee. Rin exited the kitchen and took a sip from Anderson’s #1 Commander coffee mug.

“Garrus we have to do something about that ridiculous security system you and Zaeed rigged up.” Rin looked over at Cornelius to make sure he was still in his cage. He was happily running on his wheel, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. “My hamster got out and was nearly killed.”

Garrus’s mandibles twitched nervously. “Technically Shepard, he would’ve been vaporized… but yes, I see your point. I’ll work on it.”

“Thank you, honey.”

Rin understood Garrus’s need to create such an overdone security system. He wanted to keep her safe as she did with him. Potentially murdering their teammates and overweight space hamsters was not the way to go about it, however. Luckily, it seemed easier to disarm the system then it had been to put the whole thing together.

She settled in the living room while Garrus made his way into the kitchen. The sheer domesticity of the situation hit Rin like an asteroid colliding directly with the Normandy. How she suddenly found herself yearning to possess a life away from the Alliance. Rin spent the past decade going into one fight after the next. She never admitted it to anyone, but she craved normalcy. Before Garrus, she certainly never saw herself settling down with anyone-- let alone a Turian. Then again, who else but Garrus Vakarian could both keep up with and keep her on her toes at the same time?

“You okay there, Shepard?” Garrus asked, breaking Rin out of her thoughts. 

Rin nodded, mulling over how exactly to bring this up to Garrus. “You ever think about what we'll do after all this? Provided we survive.”

“We've survived worse. Remember what caused those scars I know drove you wild?” Garrus teased, mandibles twitching in amusement.

“Not to mention the two years I spent dead,” she felt the need to add.

He shook his head. “Almost dead, Shepard. Give yourself some credit.”

The unanswered question Rin posed to Garrus moments earlier didn't go unnoticed. She stood up, walking over to him with a small smirk playing on her lips. “You know you never gave me an answer, big guy.”

“I was thinking we could retire to some big, private Island where no one would bother us.”

“Retirement sounds nice,” Rin admitted, the smug facade fading. “For once in my life, I'd like to be more than just Commander Shepard.”

Garrus drew her close, a chuckle escaping him. “That's a yes on the island then, Shepard?”

“A hell yes.”

The idea sounded ridiculous and perfect at the same time. Rin never would say out loud that she didn't expect to survive this. Best that Garrus and the rest of the crew have hope. It was such a fickle thing, but it always seemed to make a difference in the end.

Everyone expected Rin to be this strong, domineering figure and be ready to fight the Reapers. Only Rin's crew could possibly see beyond that-- and if they did, no one ever spoke of it. It was like was some forbidden thing that if spoken then everything Rin built her image on would come crumbling down.

“We will survive this, Shepard,” Garrus said as he leaned down to press his forehead against hers. “And the deserted island will be waiting for us once it's all done.”

Rin decided to swallow her doubts and simply give into the moment. She deserved this after all the shit she'd done for the Milky Way Galaxy.

“Just make sure we get it stocked with plenty of dextro and levo food,” Rin added. “No way we can enjoy retirement if we end up poisoning ourselves.”

That certainly isn't the way Commander Rin Shepard wanted to go.


End file.
